My husband, Joel, and I were at one of our favorite restaurants in Ajijic celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary last month when we saw a mom being tugged by her toddler son all over the restaurant. She looked exhausted. Joel, very nostalgically, told her, "Enjoy it. These times won't last."
We should know. We have four teenagers (well Noah is 12...almost a teen) and we are so gratified by who they are all becoming.
I just realized that our family of six will span four countries in less than a week. My daughter, Kaelyn, is in Honduras on a missions trip working at an orphanage this summer. Joel and Noah are leaving for Colorado soon to see Grandpa for his birthday and Lily and Maya will be going to Canada next week. I get to stay here in Mexico and hold down the fort. :)
Lily and Maya earned the money themselves to go to Canada and made this video:
I have friends who have asked me how I will feel if our kids end up scattered across the world once they are grown. I answer that we would only have ourselves to blame (or congratulate, depending on your perspective!) We have raised our kids to be independent and living in Mexico has reinforced the values we wanted for our kids to have, such as being very family-oriented and not having a clue what a generation gap is.
We don't have much longer with the kids before they spread their wings and fly. I'll take Joel's advice to heart: "Enjoy it. These times won't last."